The Aviationist Blog

The U.S. Air Force will temporarily deploy four aircraft and crews to Curaçao to support drug-interdiction operations. An E-8 Joint STARS (JSTARS) and an E-3 Sentry Airborne Early Warning aircraft, supported by two KC-135 Stratotankers, [...]

30 years ago today, a Blackbird smashed a transcontinental speed record. On Mar. 6, 1990, SR-71 Blackbird S/N 61-7972 (tail number #972) made its final flight from AF Flight Test Center Plant 42 in Palmdale, [...]

Videos of gun and missile tests taken at the Russian GkNIPAS range are extremely interesting. The one of  the Su-34 is pretty unusual too. The top image, showing a Russian Sukhoi Su-34 Fullback attack aircraft [...]

Boeing unveiled its design for the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft. Now that all candidates are public, let’s see what we know about the helicopters that could replace the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior. On Mar. 3, 2020, [...]

We have been to Albacete, in Spain, to report about the first Flying Course of 2020. Half way between the eastern coast of Spain on the Mediterranean Sea and Madrid, Albacete is the hometown of [...]

Nose art for deployed Strike Eagles becoming a standard? The first 16 F-15E Strike Eagle jets belonging to the 494th FS of the 48th Fighter Wing deployed to the CENTCOM AOR (Area Of Operation) as [...]

The squadron has now been relocated to Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, for the second part of the deployment. The 555th Fighter Squadron, also known as the “world famous, highly-respected” Triple Nickel, completed the [...]

This is the first time the incident is directly attributable to the Chinese military. A U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon was hit by a weapons-grade laser during a routine patrol above international waters on February 17, [...]

Third kill over Idlib by the Turkish Air Force in three days. Both the Turkish Ministry of Defense and the Syrian News Agency SANA have confirmed that a Syrian L-39 Albatros was shot down in [...]

The Ejército Del Aire is deploying Eurofighters to Nellis Air Force Base. Support is provided by Spanish C-130H, CN235 and P-3M, along with RAF Voyagers. Ten Spanish Air Force EF2000 “Tifóns”, pooled from ALA11 and [...]

We visited the base of the last two JASDF Phantom units ahead of the type retirement. With the decommissioning of the 302 Hikotai on March 25, 2019 (Fiscal Year 2018) only two squadrons of the [...]

The Turkish Air Force shot down two Syrian Su-24 Fencers today. A Turkish Anka-S drone drone was also downed. On Mar. 1, 2020, two Syrian Arab Air Force Su-24 jets and a Turkish Anka-S drone [...]

USAF Capt. Kristin Wolf, Named as New Air Force During Heritage Flight Conference. U.S. Air Force Captain Kristin “Beo” Wolfe has been named the new F-35A Demo Team Pilot for the 2020 and 2021 air [...]

U.S. Air Force C-5 departs from a wet runway after “almost biblical rainfall”. This video was filmed on Feb. 28, 2020, literally a few hours ago, at Prestwick airport, 32 miles from the city centre [...]

Rock solid images of Dutch F-16s taken at more than 300 knots with a Gyro-stabilized System Pro gimbal. The video below was filmed by Swedish aerial specialist, Peter Degerfeldt at Blue Sky Aerial, from a [...]

World’s Largest, Fastest Bomber Updated with Glass Cockpit, Engines and Avionics Upgrade. The latest version of the massive Tu-160 “White Swan” supersonic bomber (NATO reporting name “Blackjack”) flew for the first time from Kazan, Russia [...]

The C-101 jet #5 of the Patrulla Águila has crashed into the Mediterranean Sea off Murcia. A Casa C-101 Aviojet belonging to the Patrulla Águila (Spanish for “Eagle Patrol”), the Spanish Air Force’s display team, [...]

Top U.S. Demo Teams Gather at NAF El Centro, California to Share Best Practices. The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and the U.S. Navy Blue Angels jet demonstration teams are meeting this week to compare notes [...]

Italian Air Force Takes Delivery Of Its First F-35B Lightning II STOVL (Short Take Off Vertical Landing)-model of the Joint Strike Fighter. The Italian Air Force received its first F-35B Lightning II on Saturday Feb. [...]

F-22s returned home from their first ever deployment in Qatar. And here are some interesting images. Twelve U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptors that had deployed to the Middle East at the end of June 2019 [...]